Dustin Johnson won the LIV Golf Invitational Boston

• Dustin Johnson wins the LIV Golf Invitational Boston with a monstrous eagle putt on the opening playoff hole.
• Johnson won a three-way playoff against Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and India’s Anirban Lahiri.
• Both players were making their debuts in the controversial Saudi-backed series.

Dustin Johnson won the LIV Golf Invitational Boston with a monstrous eagle putt on the opening playoff hole, dethroning a slew of rookies to the breakaway circuit.

Johnson won a three-way playoff against Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and India’s Anirban Lahiri, who were both making their debuts in the controversial Saudi-backed series.

All three finished the 54-hole International Golf Club course on 15-under par.

Cameron Smith, the world number two and reigning British Open champion, finished a shot back on 14-under, tying for fourth with England’s Lee Westwood, who charged into contention with an eight-under par 62 but bogeyed his last hole to miss the playoff.

Johnson shot a five-under par 65 on Sunday, including his sixth birdie of the day at the 13th, to take the lead at 15-under.

He wouldn’t make another birdie, however, and he needed par saves on the par-three 17th and 18th holes to qualify for the playoff.

Johnson didn’t waste any time with his playoff putt, sending it speeding up the hill. When the ball struck the lip, it stopped before striking the back edge of the cup and bouncing in.

“Yeah, it was going a little fast, but it was a good line,” said Johnson, adding he felt the 18th “owed me one” after his second shot in regulation ended up in the underbrush alongside the giant scoreboard behind the green.

Lahiri was first in the clubhouse on 15-under and had a chance to win on the 18th hole, where his six-foot eagle putt circled the cup but didn’t drop.

His six-under 64 included an eagle and six birdies, but after finding the fairway on the first playoff hole, his second shot missed the green.

He chipped to five feet for a birdie, only for Johnson to win.

Niemann secured his playoff spot with his fifth birdie of the day on the 18th hole. But his tee shot in the playoff hit a spectator before landing in the right rough, and from there he was in a greenside bunker.

Johnson, who finished eighth in the first LIV Golf event in London, fourth in Portland, and third in Bedminster, became the series’ first American to win the individual title.

He received a $4 million first-place award as well as $750,000 as his share of the team first-place prize for his 4 Aces team, which finished two strokes ahead of Lahiri’s Crushers.

The massive purses, combined with reported signing bonuses for top players, have the established PGA Tour and DP World Tour scrambling to retain their talent, with the PGA Tour immediately banning any player who tees it up in LIV Golf even as they move to create more lucrative events on their own circuit.

LIV Golf, which is supported by the nearly limitless riches of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has also been accused of “sportswashing” the kingdom’s human rights record.

Despite the criticism – and the growing enmity between LIV Golf defectors and PGA Tour veterans – Johnson said he was excited to be a part of what he sees as an exciting new venture.

Despite the loose mood, he claimed the money on the line created plenty of competitive tension.

“Especially with that check that you get — you can feel it,” Johnson said.

American Pat Perez, who won the most recent of his three US PGA Tour wins in 2018, has earned $750,000 for each of the 4 Aces’ three team victories.

He had a pithy response to detractors who think LIV Golf’s competitions are nothing more than exhibitions.

“Exhibition match don’t pay $4.75 million,” Perez said.

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